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Coffee, Ice Cream

A chilled dessert made by mixing coffee, milk, sugar, egg yolks, and cream, then freezing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Coffee, Ice Cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Coffee, Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix the coffee, boiling milk, sugar, and egg yolks in a saucepan.

  2. Stir over medium heat until the mixture thickens.

  3. Add the thick cream and stir until it coats the spoon, but do not let it boil.

Cool and freeze

  1. Let the mixture cool, then pour it into a mold.

  2. Freeze in the usual way.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Coffee + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Coffee + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,344 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set gently with heat.
Thick cream
Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture that softens the ice crystals.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point for a softer scoop.
Strong clear coffee
Provides the main coffee flavor and liquid for the custard base.
Milk
Adds liquid and dairy body to the custard base.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as they heat but curdle and turn grainy if they boil. Stir steadily over gentle heat and stop once the mixture coats the spoon.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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